


Birthday Wishes

by where_havealltheflowers_gone



Series: Annabelle Elizabeth Gallagher-Milkovich [7]
Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Birthday, Daddy!Ian, Daddy!Mickey, Established Relationship, Fluff, Kid Fic, M/M, Married Couple, Prompt Fill, Public Displays of Affection, Talk of the past, This got away from me, Traditions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-23
Updated: 2013-07-23
Packaged: 2017-12-21 04:15:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/895692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/where_havealltheflowers_gone/pseuds/where_havealltheflowers_gone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Because sometimes it was still hard for him to believe that the Mickey he’d been fucking back then was the same guy who’d proposed to him, married him, adopted and was raising a daughter with him, made him breakfast on Saturdays when he’d worked the late shift, worried when he was even a second late for dinner, and reached towards him now to peck a kiss on his cheek."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Mickey and Ian take Annabelle around Southside and show her their significant spots.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Birthday Wishes

**Author's Note:**

> This started as a drabble to fill a prompt and turned into WRITE ALL THE FLUFF. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy my favorite fictional family.

They didn’t have many traditions, but there was one set firmly in place, ever since she could talk. Every year, on her birthday, her Dads would grant her one wish, as best they could. But it was never too terribly taxing, because Annabelle would always ask for the same thing: a story from their childhood. Every year, she’d ask the same question. As far back as she can remember, she’s been asking the same question.   
“How did you fall in love?”  
And, as far back as she can remember, she’s been getting the same answer: “We’ll tell you when you’re older.”   
And she’d ask a different question.  
“Where did you work?”  
“What was your first kiss like?”  
“Was it love at first sight?”  
“Did you date other people?”  
Once, she’d made the mistake of asking about their saddest memory. Daddy Mickey had clenched his hands into fists and marched into his room, slamming and locking the door behind him. Daddy Ian had smiled a sad smile at her and said, “It’d be best if you don’t ask that again, babes.”   
But she was too curious for her own good, and she’d known at that moment that she’d do anything to find out what had happened. She would just have to ask the right questions.   
So, sitting at the kitchen table on her fifteenth birthday, she folded her hands in front of her and waited. Daddy Mickey settled down in his chair, “Alright, Bells, today’s the day. What’s your wish?”  
It was the same thing he’d always said, like he was hoping she would ask for something- anything- other than what they all knew she would.  
She smiled at him. “I wish for you to answer my question,” she said, like she always had.  
Ian sat across from Mickey. “Okay, let’s hear it, kiddo.”   
“How did you fall in love?”  
Mickey shook his head, firmly, once. Like he always did.   
Ian grinned. “We’ll tell you when you’re older.”  
She nodded once and, because that was the answer she’d been expecting, she proceeded to ask the real question. “How, where and when did you meet?”  
“That’s three questions, short stop.”   
Ian rolled his eyes at his husband. “We played little league together when we were kids,” Ian said to Anna.   
Annabelle cocked her head to the side, finger pressed to her lips. “You started dating as kids?”   
“Oh,” Mickey teased, “She wants to know where it all started.” He smirked at Ian.  
Ian’s eyebrows furrowed together, “I don’t understand.”   
“Well, we could show her better than we could tell her.”  
Ian nodded, smile slowly lighting up his face. He turned to their daughter, “Back a bag, baby face, we’re going to Chicago.” 

 

“That used to be a store called the Kash and Grab,” Ian pointed across the street to the boarded up building.  
“What happened there?” Annabelle asked.   
Mickey barked out a laugh, reaching over to rustle her hair. “A lot happened there, munchkin.”  
Ian smacked at his arm. “We worked there,” he said pointedly, glaring at Mickey over Anna’s head. Let’s not talk about our past exhibitionist ways with our teenaged daughter.   
“Yeah,” Mickey said, returning Ian’s evil eyes with a playful smile, “Among other things.” He laughed when Ian’s eyes bugged out of his head, and the ginger couldn’t hold in his laugh either. Because sometimes it was still hard for him to believe that the Mickey he’d been fucking back then was the same guy who’d proposed to him, married him, adopted and was raising a daughter with him, made him breakfast on Saturdays when he’d worked the late shift, worried when he was even a second late for dinner, and reached towards him now to peck a kiss on his cheek.  
“Come on,” Ian said, jokingly dodging Mickey’s affection before he returned it quickly and laced their fingers together, “Let’s show her the dugout.” 

 

“Is this where you played little league?” Annabelle asked as she titled her head back to look at the hole in the roof of the small structure.  
“Yeah, before your dad got kicked off,” Ian quipped, grinning widely at Mickey.  
Mickey rolled his eyes, arms crossed across his chest. “Like that was even my fault.”  
“What’d you do, Daddy?” Annabelle asked, jumping off the bench she’d crawled up on and landing next to Mickey.  
“I took a piss on the base,” Mickey said, smirk tugging on the corners of his mouth.  
“You peed while you were playing baseball?” she squealed.   
“I was only six!” Mickey defended himself.  
Annabelle smiled and leaned over the railing to look up at the puffy white clouds in the sky. “So is that the only reason this place is special?” she asked, not looking at her dads.   
They exchanged a look, soft smiles on their lips. Ian leaned against the edge beside her. He didn’t take his eyes off Mickey when he said, “We used to come here a lot.”   
“What for?”  
“Just to see each other,” Mickey said. Because it was true, after Ian had gotten kicked out of the army, this was where they’d both ended up. No words needed, no apologies or explanations; at least not right away. Those came later.   
Mickey slumped down on the bench. “We’d drink and smoke. Talk.”   
“About what?”  
Ian shrugged, tilting his head back to look at the sky with his daughter. “Nothing, everything. It’d been awhile since we’d seen each other.”  
“Where were you?” she asked, turning so she could look at them.  
Mickey chuckled, rising to his feet. “That’s a story for a different time. C’mon. One last place.” 

 

Mickey ran a hand down the comforter on the bed, reminiscing.  
“Was this your bedroom as a kid?” Annabelle asked, flopping down on the bed so hard she bounced.  
Mickey nodded.   
Ian came up behind him, arms wrapping around his waist, chin resting on Mickey’s shoulder. “This is where it all started,” he mumbled.  
“And ended,” Mickey added.  
“You broke up in this room?” Anna questioned, sadness creeping into her voice.  
Mickey sat down next to her. “Something like that.”   
“Why?”   
They sighed at the same time, the sound identical after all these years together.   
“Let me guess,” Annabelle quipped, “You’ll tell me when I’m older?”   
Ian laughed, leaning over to press his lips to her hairline. “Maybe.”  
Mickey covered his daughter’s hand with his own. “And maybe not even then.”

 

“Hey, wait!” Annabelle yelped, coming to a stop suddenly on the sidewalk. She pointed up at the wall next to them, “Why’s your name on this?”   
Ian saddled up beside her, arm draped over her shoulders. His face blanched when he read the wall. “Well,” he tried to joke, “Hopefully it isn’t recent.”   
Mickey came up next to them, “The fuck is the hold up?” He followed their gaze when no one answered him. A grin broke out on his face. “You never saw this when I did it?”  
“You did this?” Ian cried.  
“Calm down, man. It was when I thought you’d messed with Mandy.”  
“Oh, so you just plastered ‘Ian Gallagher is a dead man’ across a wall? That’s reasonable!”   
Mickey’s grin turned into a chuckle, which escalated into a laugh. Pretty soon, he was doubled over, cackling hysterically.   
Annabelle started to giggle, going over to place a hand on her dad’s shoulder. Ian couldn’t help but join in.   
“I’m sorry,” Mickey said to Ian after a bit, wiping his eyes, “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”  
Ian rolled his eyes, grin taking up his whole mouth, and grabbed Mickey’s hand. “Famous Milkovich last words,” he teased.

 

“Today was good,” Ian whispered, glancing at a sleeping Annabelle in the rearview mirror.  
“Yeah,” Mickey agreed softly from where he was slumped in the passenger seat. He rested his arm on the back of Ian’s seat, raking his fingers through Ian’s hair.   
“Tired?”  
“Yeah,” Mickey repeated, eyes fluttering closed before he jerked awake again.   
“You can go to sleep, Mick. We’re still a couple hours from home.”  
“No, I just…” he trailed off, “I just realized I forgot something.” He scraped Ian’s scalp gently.  
Ian slid his eyes over, perplexed. “What is it?”  
“I love you,” Mickey murmured sleepily before he settled back into his seat to sleep the rest of the way back to New York.  
Ian grinned at him, face lit up by the headlights of the other cars on the highway. He let his hand land on Mickey’s knee. “Love you too, Mick,” he said softly, “I love you too.”


End file.
